Deuteronomy 18:21

21 "You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?'

Deuteronomy 18:21 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 18:21

And if thou say in thine heart,
&c] Such a thought arises in the mind, and it appears to be a difficulty, and a query is made upon it,

how shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?
What marks, signs, and criterions are those by which it may be known that it is not a word that comes from the Lord?

Deuteronomy 18:21 In-Context

19 'It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.

20 'But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.'

21 "You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?'

22 "When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD , if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "if you say"